9. The circuses merged in 1919, following the First World War
In 1919 John and Charles Ringling decided that the several circuses under their control would merge into one spectacular traveling circus, named Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus, The Greatest Show on Earth. Its first presentation occurred on March 29, 1919, at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The show was just a short distance from what had been up to then the Ringling Brothers winter quarters in Bridgeport, Connecticut. One reason for the circus wintering in the outskirts of frigid New England was the restrictions on rail travel which had been imposed during World War 1, and which were still in effect. Another was that the 1919 flu pandemic had been less severe in colder climes.
When Alf Ringling died in 1919 John and Charles decided to explore building an extensive winter quarters for the combined shows on land which they owned in Florida, around Sarasota. Charles was already involved in building himself a large family retreat there, and the Ringling’s had ingratiated themselves to local authorities by donations of land for a post office and other amenities in the growing community. Although neither of the surviving Ringling Brothers knew it at the time, the heyday of the traveling circus was already in the past with the end of the First World War. The 1920s brought silent movies, jazz, speakeasies, escape artists, magicians, and other forms of entertainment drawing away fans of the Big Top and the thrills which it contained.